No new cavites - For LIFE!

How much would you pay to stop getting cavities? There's an amazing new company based in Salem, OR called CariFree(Oral BioTech). Click the Title of the post above and it will take you straight to their website. I've been directing a lot of my patients to check out their Treatment Rinse, Treatment Kits and for kids they have great products like Xylitol Lollipops, gums, mouth sprays, etc. Use these to shift the balance of 'bad' bacteria back to 'good' bacteria. Your mouth will become acid-neutral, so no way you can get cavities. Couple this with the hardening properties and anti-cavity potential that Fluoride gives to enamel, and you would only have to worry about gum disease. See, there would still be a reason for you to come see your dentist, even if you never had a cavity again.

How many of you would like the convenience of purchasing these products directly from my office? I have hesitated to do this, as I don't want people thinking I'm selling stuff just to make a profit. But, if I can offer prices that are less than the CariFree website and their shipping charges, I'm glad to do it.

Volunteer Dentistry at COCC

Last Friday, I finally made it over to the COCC Dental Assisting Clinic, where Dental Assisting students get live patient experiences. Volunteers in Medicine screens patients in need, and they are seen for emergency dental care (aka extractions). We treated approximately 10 patients from 8am until 2pm, and the students were AWESOME! This wasn't their first rodeo, as the term is coming to an end. I have heard from reliable sources that it is very chaotic in there when they first start seeing patients as the year begins for them. It is a small clinic with four treatment chairs. We are very excited to see the new facility when the Allied Science building is completed in the next couple of years.

A big thank you to Lynn Murray, Kristi Hammerquist and Deb Davies for all of their hard work with these students. They will be working on Central Oregonians in the near future and our dental practices are better because of their program. Kudos!

New Porcelain Oven in our office

At the Oregon Dental Conference, I finally purchased a Porcelain Furnace! This allows me to customize our CEREC single-visit crowns with stains and glaze for even more gorgeous effect. For our teeth-grinders, I can fabricate eMax Lithium Disilicate crowns in office now. These eMax crowns are so hard that you can strike them with a hammer and they won't break. (Not recommended doing this in your mouth, by the way).

This has been an investment that I've been looking forward to for some time now. It allows me to incorporate so much artistry in my restorations. This is why I became a dentist and this new technology is incredible. If you need a crown, ask me to show you the oven and how we customize your crown with shades, Stains and gradient chromas to give natural, life-like character to your teeth It will amaze you to see how much detail goes into one crown.

Proof that even Dental Personnel see the Dentist

Here's proof that Jessica has dental needs too. Doesn't that make everyone just have a warm fuzzy to see her on the receiving end of a dental impression? Puts a smile on my face.

April is National Stress Awareness Month

There must be a reason that National Stress Awareness Month and National Humor Month go hand in hand. After all, the first day of the month is April Fool's Day. I debated on whether to saran wrap the door to my bedroom this morning to get my wife to walk into it, but decided this was not a battle I would win. It would have only been funny to one of us!

To bring attention to this month's theme in our office, I'll pose the following question: Do you wake up in the morning feeling fabulous? Not many do, and I've found great success with a night guard system that I use to reduce the clenching and grinding activity in many of my patients. Check out the website, www.HeadachePrevention.com. It shows some excellent illustrations about how our NTI-TSS night guard works to reduce muscle tension and headaches. What better gift to give to your husband or wife than reduced headaches? We see about a 70% reduction in symptoms after 8 weeks of use of the NTI-TSS system. This is a great treatment for National Stress Awareness Month.